Re: Ground squirrel control

    would this by chance be it....I hightlighted it when it came
up....keeping it in mind!
Vera
 show details
 5/14/06
From: james singer <islandjim1@verizon.net>
To: gardenchat@hort.net

Cyndi, here's a post from another list re gopher/ground squirrel
problem--


I've tried electric fences before using a "small pet" transformer, and
that stopped the ground squirrels for a while -- then they started
just taking the shock and destroying things again.

So this year I covered the railroad ties that surround the garden with
wire mesh ("hardware cloth") so that any animals on them would have a
good "ground".  Then using a "large animal" transformer I put plastic
insulators on top of the railroad ties and ran the wire about an inch
and a half over the tie.

So far I've actually killed every ground squirrel that has tried to
get into the garden -- with zero damage to any of the plants!

Of course I have forgotten that the electric fence is there and I've
shocked myself a number of times.

Richard Primbs
Encinitas CA




On May 9, 2006, at 1:52 PM, Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSRT wrote:

> Good weather and gardening, what more can you ask?
> I meant to take pictures of the gardens this weekend but once again
> didn't
> get to it. It'll be in full bloom for a little while yet so there's
> still
> plenty of time.
> I did most of my activity in the vegetable garden, figured I would get
> on
> top of the weeds there while they are still small. So the onions, the
> lettuce, and the peas are all weeded and mulched. We are feeding our
> ewes
> oat hay instead of alfalfa to help dry up their milk, and they waste
> so much
> of it there's plenty of mulching material. The tomatoes look pretty
> nice,
> the soybeans and the corn are up, but the green beans I planted didn't
> sprout. Could be old seed...or maybe the ravens ate them all...I
> figured I'd
> replant and see if it works. It's very late to be doing that, green
> beans
> don't set real well in the kind of heat we get in the summer, but what
> the
> heck - I don't need many. And I direct seeded some eggplant and okra,
> pretty
> old packets though, we'll see what happens there too. Peppers are
> hardening
> off and will go in probably next weekend. One thing about cutting back
> this
> year is I didn't buy new seed, so I'm getting rid of all those old
> packets I
> was going to use "someday". Silly to keep old seed but I am a pack
> rat, no
> denying it. Now I can plant them with a clear conscience  and I've even
> tossed those I know I won't use.
> We have gophers and ground squirrels galore. It's incredible, there
> can't be
> 10 sq ft anywhere without a gopher hole in it. My husband has about 10
> gopher traps set all over the place and as soon as he catches one and
> moves
> the trap to the next place, a new hole sprouts where he just was. And
> ground
> squirrels, we have not seen them in years but last night we saw two
> scampering in the vegetable garden. They do a lot of damage to my
> irrigation
> system, plants, and they dig big burrows. I hear they steal eggs from
> chickens too, but I've never seen that. Anyway we are trapping for
> them too.
> Sheesh!
> We bought a new ram lamb the other day, the girls need a boyfriend for
> next
> fall. Lots of pushing and shoving when you introduce a new member to
> the
> flock. Sometime during the night somebody busted through the gate into
> the
> veg garden. My husband shouted for me that morning and my heart just
> sank,
> but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. They had walked on
> everything but didn't eat much so there was surprisingly little damage
> considering. Talk about lucky.
> Out front the roses are blooming, not yet fully loaded but soon. The
> dutch
> iris and bearded iris look great. The hardy geraniums are the best
> I've ever
> seen them - maybe they really liked the wet/cool weather we had since
> February? I've got to get after the vinca though, it will smother
> them. I've
> moved a bunch of daylilies, I don't even know what colors they are so
> that
> will bear watching. The dry garden looks very nice indeed although I
> still
> have bare spots. It's harder now to plant in there, new natives want a
> season of almost regular water while the established ones will hate
> that.
> Going out there with a watering can is not real practical but it may
> be what
> I have to do. I have already lost a few of the new salvias to gophers,
> grrr,
> it's what I get for not taking the time to make the cages.
> But all in all, it's pretty good. Going to be about 90 today. Wish I
> were
> outside...
>
> Cyndi
>
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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]



On 5/7/07, Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSRT <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil>
wrote:
>
> Some time back I was griping about ground squirrels, and someone sent me
> a thing from another list - a guy who had set up a high-powered hotwire
> so that the ground squirrels would get electrocuted when they travelled
> over the wire.  It sounded like an interesting idea and husband wants to
> try it, but I can't find the message. I think we could figure it out -
> but if whoever sent that to me is still around, and has the message,
> could you send it again? I can't find it in the hort.net archives
> either, so maybe I'm remembering wrong, but decided I would ask.
>
> Cyndi
>
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